Digital BW, The Print

I think the subject line says it all. The software (Newcolor 5000) 
that came with my Linoscan 1400 scanner scans only in 8 bit. If I 
switch to 16 bit software, such as VueScan, will this enable me to 
scan in 16 bit or is the ability to do that a function of the 
hardware as well as the software? Thanks, hopefully this isn't a 
really dumb question.